


Christmas Past

by rae_marie



Category: Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen, definitely a bit of a nod to it's a wonderful life and a christmas carol, i'm wearing my nerdity on my sleeve with this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-23 20:56:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15614844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rae_marie/pseuds/rae_marie
Summary: Christmas and Victorian England and paradoxes - oh my!





	Christmas Past

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the draft of this for the Big Finish Paul Spragg Memorial Opportunity, then realised it broke all the rules. I finished it anyway, and here it is. 
> 
> It is a bit of a pastiche on It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol, but you don’t really need to know those references to enjoy it as just a plain old, Christmassy Doctor Who fanfic featuring the Master, Sally Armstrong, and a grandfather paradox.

Sally Armstrong's Personal Logbook

Ides Scientific Institute

Date - irrelevant

 

Harcourt and I took a trip in the TARDIS today that had most unusual and surprising results. It all started when I walked into our optometry office to open up for the morning. I couldn't find Harcourt anywhere in the main office, so naturally, I went to the TARDIS door and knocked.

'Just a moment,' he called. There were footsteps, and then the door opened.

' _Good_ morning, Sally! Just the person I wanted to talk to; come in.' We went over to the console, and he shut the door and started pushing buttons.

'What was it you wanted to talk about?' I asked, looking at the controls and trying to fathom what he was doing. I think, after many weeks of careful observation, that I've figured out how to fly this machine, but this seemed more like what I think he calls a 'temporal scan', and I am much less familiar with those.

'I think I've detected an anomaly - an unusual metal showing up in a time and on a planet where and when it shouldn't be. I think it might be relevant to our research, and we're off to investigate it.'

'Oh?' I was used to Harcourt's eccentric ways by now, but this was rather spur-of-the-moment, and he was rarely that. 'Are you sure? You don't want to do more research before we go?'

'I've been up all night looking into this, Sally. I've only been waiting for you to arrive, that's all.' He pushed another button.

'Oh. I didn't expect that. Let's go then!' I said, with partially forced enthusiasm - I _hadn't_ been expecting any excitement this early in the morning. Then I asked, 'What planet are we going to, by the way?' Harcourt smiled an enigmatic, 'oh-won't-you-be-surprised' smile, and said,

'Earth. Eighteen-eighty-three.'

And he pulled the dematerialisation lever.

*****

We landed, and Harcourt turned on the scanner. Throngs of people scurried by as snow gently drifted from the sky. They were all wearing Victorian suits and bustled dresses, and I glanced down at my slacks and lab coat in concern; I was going to have to change _those_! Harcourt turned off the scanner, and, as if reading my mind, said,

'We'll both have to wear more culturally acceptable fashion. Let's go, shall we?'

When we came out of our respective changing rooms, our raid on the TARDIS wardrobe appeared to have come off rather successfully. Harcourt was wearing an overcoat and slightly anachronistic charcoal blazer with a green cravat, and I was wearing a light blue bustled skirt-and-jacket outfit with a matching hat.

'Well,' I said. 'Don't _we_ look like we just stepped out of a Charles Dickens novel!'

'Then let us traverse into Christmas Past!' Harcourt declared, and opening the doors, we stepped out onto the snowy street.

It was a bit of a step down; it seems the TARDIS had turned into a hackney cab; strangely minus the horse. We walked down the street a short distance before I asked,

'Is it near Christmas after all?'

'Yes; Christmas Eve, to be precise.'

'What exactly are we looking for, then?'

'A Who, actually. He will lead us to the What. Look out for a tallish young man with dark brown hair, about fifteen. I don't know his name, but I'll know him if I see him.'

I looked around, scanning the crowd for someone who matched that description, and was quite startled to see him astride the railing on a bridge, about to vault himself fully over. I quickly grabbed Harcourt's arm and pointed.

'I think that's him, Harcourt - we need to _do_ something!' He turned, and seeing the young man, ran quickly over, I hot on his heels.

'Young man!' he called as he came up. The stranger turned and looked suddenly angry.

'Leave me alone,' he snapped. 'Don't moralise at me; you don't know what I've been through; what I'm goin' through - and would be in the future!'

'You don't have to do this,' I said calmly. 'Whatever your problems are, I'm almost certain we could help.'

'You couldn't _possibly_!' he cried. 'Just leave me be!'

'I don't think you really want to jump, you know,' Harcourt said.

'Well that shows how little you know, guvnah,' the stranger hissed back.

'No, really, I _do_ know,' Harcourt persisted. 'Look into my eyes, and tell me if you _really_ want to.'

The young man looked into his eyes, and rapidly calmed down. I knew what Harcourt was doing; he had extraordinarily effective hypnotic technique - I had seen him use it on patients at the optometry clinic - and thankfully that trick proved just as effective this time.

'You don't want to do it, do you?' Harcourt prompted in a quiet tone. The stranger slowly shook his head.

'No,' he said, slightly dazed.

'Then here; take my hand, and we'll get you off this bridge and into a warm tavern where you can get out of this freezing weather. Sally?'

I came to his side and helped the young man back over the railing. He looked slightly confused, but this soon passed as we walked to the nearest pub.

*****

We were all seated around a table eating wonderfully hot Sunday roast when Harcourt asked the stranger of his name.

'Geoffrey,' he replied.

'Why were you jumping off a bridge?' I asked. Geoffrey swallowed his roast beef before replying.

' 'Cos my family's all dead and I'm going to have to go to the workhouse, and I would've rather died than lived there.' He looked a little confused for a moment, and muttered, 'Funny; now I don't want to die at all.' Then he suddenly stopped looking confused and said, 'Anyway, I don't know how I can stay out of it now, but I have to figure out something.'

'How did your family die, Geoffrey?' Harcourt asked.

'Who _are_ you two, anyway?' he blurted, ignoring - or perhaps not noticing - the question.

'I am Lord Harcourt, and this is Lady Armstrong,' Harcourt replied, somewhat impatiently. 'What happened - '

'There was....a strange incident, m'lord,' he replied, cutting him off. 'You wouldn't believe me. But, pardon my asking, sir, what does a gen'lman like you want with the lowly likes of me?'

Harcourt looked a bit _too_ smugly flattered at this, and I kicked him under the table. He glanced at me quickly, then remembered himself and replied,

'Oh, I know about strange things, young man, believe you _me!_ I make it my business to find out about them, which is why I came here with Lady Armstrong to talk to _you_. Please! Tell us your story; I highly doubt we'd think you insane.'

'Alright,' Geoffrey started uncertainly.

'It was two days ago. A giant metal disk fell from the sky into our yard and exploded! From the wreckage came two terrifying creatures who screamed threats at us. My father managed to destroy one of them - ' (at this, Harcourt's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he glanced at me quickly) ' - but the other one shot its odd gun at him, and killed him and the rest of my family. Somehow, it didn't find me, and just disappeared.

'The next day a man came by, saying my father owed him money, and if I didn't pay up, he'd send me to the workhouse. I agonised over it all night, and that's why you found me on the bridge this morning.'

Harcourt had started to say something, but I cut him off.

'Harcourt, I need to talk to you privately for a moment.'

He looked at me in surprise, but shrugged and got up.

'We'll be back in a minute, Geoffrey,' I said, and walked with Harcourt to the other side of the room.

'What _is_ it, Sally?' he asked with a tone of mild annoyance. 'I was just about to ask him if he could show us where the ship crashed!'

'All well and good, Harcourt, but I've had an idea, and I want to....run it by you.'

'Well what is it, then?' he asked, still sounding annoyed.

'It's Christmas, Harcourt, and that boy is alone and in trouble. _Please_ can we do....at least a _small_ thing to help him?'

Harcourt looked taken aback, but he recovered quickly. He hesitated, then asked,

'What did you have in mind?'

'Well, maybe,' I said, 'we could pay the debt collector so Geoffrey doesn't have to go to the workhouse. And maybe give him some way to survive on his own.'

Harcourt considered this for a moment, then, with a 'Sally, I'm not making any promises,' turned back towards the table. Might I say, I was a little disappointed.

We sat back down with Geoffrey, who was helping himself to more Yorkshire puddings. Harcourt cleared his throat.

'Ah, Geoffrey, could you perhaps show us this strange metal disk?' Geoffrey looked up.

'Certainly, m'lord. Shall I tell you how to get there?'

'No, no, that's alright. I'm sure we can find our way. When shall we meet you there?'

'Half an hour's time, sir?'

*****

We soon took leave of Geoffrey, and walked back to the TARDIS. I was still trying to talk Harcourt into my plan, but the problem was I couldn't see if it was doing any good; he's rather a closed book.

He unlocked the TARDIS, and we stepped inside. He made his way over to the console and started working the controls, muttering to himself as he did so.

'Now, if I can link onto the anomaly created by the crashed ship and set the coordinates for half an hour away, then....' He pulled the dematerialisation lever, and the TARDIS came to life.

'....Aha! _There_ we go!' Harcourt watched the rotors carefully until we landed, then he turned to me.

'Ready?' I rolled my eyes.

'Yes, of _course_ I am, but have you been listening to a word I've been saying?'

'I have, Sally, but we're here for one thing, and you know it. Any interference will tangle the web of time, and then who _knows_ what would happen.' He hesitated, then continued, less harshly,

'I know you mean well, Sally, and I'll see what we can do, but you have to remember our responsibilities as time travellers.'

'You took _me_ out of my proper history, you know,' I said quietly. Harcourt said nothing. I wasn't entirely sure what he was thinking - as I said before, he's a bit of a closed book - but I _did_ see him trying to surreptitiously hide Victorian pounds in his blazer pocket as we left.

*****

We stepped outside into what Geoffrey had called his 'yard', but it was barely that. Of course I've _read_ about the history of this time period, but it's quite another thing to walk through it. The slums in Geoffrey's neighborhood were apalling. I was relieved when I saw Geoffrey, but soon grew concerned when I saw him arguing with the man I could only assume was the debt collector. I glanced at Harcourt, but decided to keep my mouth shut for the moment.

'Excuse me, gentlemen, but might you explain what is going on here?' Harcourt said as we walked up to them. 'I've only just arrived, but I came here to buy some scrap metal off young Geoffrey here. Is this a private argument, or can anyone join in?'

'Lord Harcourt, this is that man I was telling you and Lady Armstrong about. He's insisting I pay up now.' Geoffrey looked resentfully at the man, who glared at us.

'I don't really care for your high-and-mighty titles, you two,' he said. 'If you're 'ere to talk me out of takin' 'im to the workhouse, then 'ear you me, I won't have any of it!'

'Is that the way you speak to us?' I rebutted, as haughtily as I could muster.

'You know, I quite agree with you, Sally,' Harcourt added, 'He _does_ seem rather....ooh, I don't know - _arrogant_ , wouldn't you say?'

'Indeed,' I replied, with a smirk.

'Well, I never - ' started the man, but Harcourt cut him off.

'How much does Geoffrey owe you?' he asked.

'One 'undred pounds. But what business - '

'Ah, here we are!' he exclaimed, pulling a hundred and fifty pounds out of his blazer pocket and handing it to Geoffrey. 'That should cover the metal we're going to take off your hands, and if I were you, Geoffrey, I should spend some of it now.'

We all stared at Harcourt, flabbergasted. Geoffrey recovered first and quickly handed the man a hundred pounds. The man snatched it away as Harcourt leaned towards me and whispered,

'That shouldn't damage the web of time _too_ much.' Then, he straightened and looked the debt collector intensely in the eyes.

'That is all you need from Geoffrey, do you understand?' he said. 'You are not to come back here again. Obey me.'

The debt collector dazedly turned and ran.

'Well, _that_ should certainly straighten him out,' Harcourt muttered, then turned to Geoffrey.

'How about showing us where this crashed disk of yours is?' he asked, and Geoffrey led us over to a hole in the ground.

'It's down there,' he said. 'But m'lord, you just paid - '

'Please, please, no need to thank us! Like I said; consider it advance payment for this treasure here.' We all stared down into the impact crater. There was a small life-pod inside, smashed into four large pieces. Harcourt frowned.

'Yes....definitely travelled through time....' He took out his TCE and set it to scan. Crouching a bit closer, he scanned the wreckage briefly, then stood back up and stared down at it with a frown.

'What's the matter?' I asked, but he didn't answer. Instead, he turned to Geoffrey.

'When your father destroyed the....ah.... _creature_ , what did he do to it?' he asked.

'He blew it up. Why?'

'Did he attempt to attack the creature that shot him at all?'

'Yes - he knocked its top off - why?'

'Because, ladies and gentlemen, when I just scanned that wreckage, I picked up on an artron energy trail starting _in_ the crater, and then leading _out_ of the crater to where we're standing. If my guess is correct, there....should be a space octopus somewhere behind us.'

At this, all three of us turned, and were met with a horrible sight.

A ten-tentacled creature, complete with laser gun, was crawling slowly towards us from two yards or so off.

'No; definitely not an octopus - it has _ten_ legs....more a _deca_ pod -

' _Harcourt_ \- it has a _gun!_ ' I cried. 'Save the mathematics for _later!_ '

How it had gotten so close so quietly I will never understand, but _now_ it certainly wasn't silent, for it roared and cocked its laser gun.

It attempted to fire it, but since it was disoriented due to being in the wrong environment, its aim - thankfully for us - was terrible, and it fired them about a foot shy of us. Geoffrey screamed, I took hold of his arm and hauled him behind me. We could hear the Decapod attempting to get a better shot, and who knew how accurate he might be this time. Harcourt gestured to us.

'Sally, Geoffrey, get behind me. I don't think he'll hit us again, but let's not give him a decent shot.' Terrified, I dragged Geoffrey behind him, and I heard the electronic fizz of the TCE powering up.

'Now, I just need a good, clear shot, and - ' There was a second's silence, and the the warbled sound of the TCE beam. The Decapod gave a gargled vocalisation (if you can call it that), and then there was stillness.

'Is it safe?' I asked warily. The creature had reminded me of another tentacled alien; something that happened to me in another reality, and I wasn't taking any chances.

'Yes, it's all right; you can come out.'

We came out, and the decapod was dead. I walked up to it to examine it, and shuddered. Even dead and miniaturised, it still gave me a dissonant chill.

Slowly, I realised Geoffrey and Harcourt were talking earnestly in the background, so I turned back to them to listen.

'Take it all,' Geoffrey was saying with disgust. 'I never want to hear about....whatever they are ever again. I don't know what you could possibly do with it, but it's nothin' _I_ ever want to look at again.'

'All right; we'll gladly take it.' Harcourt reached in his pocket again. 'Oh, and here are ten more pounds.' He handed it to a shocked Geoffrey.

'Are you _certain_?' he asked. Harcourt gave one short nod.

'Yes, young man, I am. Take care of yourself,' he replied.

'Don't go jumping off any more bridges,' I added.

'Thank you,' he said quietly. 'Do you need any help getting it into your cab?'

'No, I think we'll be all right,' Harcourt said briskly. 'I think you'll find our cab a little startling,' he added with a laugh.

*****

'We had almost gotten everything in the TARDIS when the door - which we had left slightly ajar - flew open and Geoffrey came running in.

'No need to get the last pieces, m'lord and m'lady!' he exclaimed, without noticing either the TARDIS being bigger on the inside _or_ our horrified expressions at him running in on it. 'I have it right here, and I - '

And suddenly, he noticed.

'Uhh....' he said, and who could really blame him? Harcourt put down a piece of spaceship and walked over to him. As he passed me, he muttered,

'It's one thing to see an 'odd disk' crash, and quite another to waltz into a dimensionally transcendent timeship.' He took Geoffrey by the elbow and marched him out the door. I followed.

'I.... I don't understand,' Geoffrey stammered once we got back outside.

'It's called a TARDIS, and you don't need to understand, though I _will_ say I did warn you it would be shocking.'

'How did you - '

'No, no, no,' Harcourt said. 'Don't try to figure it out.'

'But - ' Geoffrey protested, but he was cut off again.

'Geoffrey, calm down and look into my eyes.' Harcourt looked down at him, and Geoffrey looked up into his eyes.

'I am the Master,' he said, 'and you will obey me.' Geoffrey stared, transfixed.

'Yes, Master,' he murmured.

'Forget everything you saw inside the TARDIS; it is gone from your memory,' Harcourt commanded. 'You will come to yourself when I snap my fingers. Three, two, one, and - ' He snapped, and Geoffrey awoke from his trance.

'Oh, I was just coming to give you this piece of the crashed disk that you missed,' he said immediately. He handed it to me. 'I hope that helps.' I smiled at him, relieved that he had successfully been.... _unburdened_ of the knowledge of future technology.

'Of course it does,' I replied. 'Thank you.'

'We really should be going now,' Harcourt said abruptly, turning back towards the TARDIS.

'Merry Christmas, Geoffrey,' I said, and turned to go as well.

'Merry Christmas to you, too, m'lady; m'lord!' he called after us. 'Anytime you need help, I, Geoffrey Ides, will be at your service!'

We both stopped abruptly and looked at each other, then turned round to face Geoffrey.

'What did you say your name was?' Harcourt asked.

'Geoffrey Ides.' Harcourt laughed.

'Well, Geoffrey Ides, you take care of yourself! Try your best to get an education, and don't let _anyone_ tell you you can't do it, because _they are wrong_.' He smiled, and, turning, ran back to the TARDIS, I still observing all of this in shock.

'Um....goodbye, Geoffrey,' I finally managed to say. 'If I were you, I'd take that advice. Merry Christmas, and goodbye!'

And I ran, before the TARDIS could dematerialise without me!

*****

Inside, Harcourt was busy over the controls. I had barely closed the door when he pulled the dematerialisation lever, and I was thrown off balance as the ship took off.

'Where are we going?!' I exclaimed, slightly exasperated. This had turned out to be a rather shocking day!

'We're going to a prestigious local school to enroll Geoffrey.'

'Won't that be meddling in the web of time?' I protested. I wasn't sure how much more excitement I could take.

'Not at all! I've looked in the TARDIS databanks and found the precise school the grandfather of the Ides Institute founder went to, and that is precisely where we're going.'

'I'm guessing that's who Geoffrey is?' It was more of a statement than a question.

'Exactly! We aren't interfering; only setting the timelines more firmly in place. And....here we are!'

We had landed. After quickly checking the scanner, we stepped outside and found ourselves in a school hallway, where the TARDIS had materialised as a wardrobe. We walked down the corridor, trying to find the headmaster's office. After a bit of searching, we finally found it. The headmaster took a bit of....ah.... _convincing,_ but soon we had Geoffrey enrolled nonetheless, and we took our leave. However, when we got back in the TARDIS, instead of setting the coordinates for what I'd come to understand meant 'going home', Harcourt set a completely _different_ course.

' _Now_ where are we going?' I asked.

'This won't take long,' Harcourt replied. 'I want to check up on Geoffrey a few years from now, just to make sure the timelines are in a stable causal loop. We'll be back before breakfast; don't you worry, Sally.'

We dematerialised.

*****

We stepped out of the TARDIS into the exact same hallway, only it was most definitely older. Students were milling about, strangely oblivious to the wardrobe suddenly appearing with a strange noise in their school.

'Can you see him anywhere?' I asked, looking for him myself. Harcourt started to shake his head, then stopped and called out,

'Geoffrey! Hello, you!'

A tall, dark-haired young man with spectacles looked in our direction. When he saw us, he started, then grinned and came over.

'Lord Harcourt and Lady Armstrong! And not looking a day older, I might add!' he exclaimed. 'What brings you here?'

'We wanted to see how you were doing,' I said, cautiously. 'How are you?'

'I'm doing wonderfully, thanks to you two,' he replied with a smirk. 'I can only assume it was you who got me in here; I can't think of anyone else who would've. I can't begin to thank you enough!'

'Well, don't let it get around; it might ruin my reputation for - _Sally! Really!_ '

I had trod on his foot before he could finish. _Really_ , he can be rather unsubtle sometimes! Anyway, I only laughed, and said,

'Geoffrey, we were glad to help. Go on and have a wonderful life.'

We turned to go back to the TARDIS, and as we walked away, I could hear Geoffrey calling behind us,

'Merry Christmas, m'lord! M'lady!'

Harcourt and I both smiled.

*****

Harcourt was correct; we _did_ arrive home _exactly_ on time. We changed back into our twentieth-century clothes, and walked back into our twentieth-century optometry clinic as if travelling into the past was an everyday occurence, which of course it was _not_! Sometimes we went into the future, as well.

As soon as I was behind the reception desk, I reached for the book on the history of Ides. After leafing through it for a while, I finally found the part I was looking for and got up to show Harcourt.

'Harcourt,' I called, knocking on his door, 'I've found something interesting in the Ides history book!' The door soon opened, and Harcourt appeared, teacup in hand.

'Is it about Geoffrey Ides?'

'Yes; look here.' I came round to show him and pointed out the passage. 'It says an anonymous donor took Geoffrey Ides out of poverty in eighteen-eighty-three and set him on a course for a career in science. Canyou believe it? What we just lived through is in a history book!'

'Yes, one rather.... _gets along_ when one has a time machine, eh?' he said, nonchalantly.

' _I_ shall certainly never get used to it,' I said, still scanning the page in wonder.

'Oh, you don't have to get used to it,' Harcourt replied. 'You just rather grow to like it, in the end.' And with that, in a complete _non sequiter_ , he walked over to his kettle and asked,

'Would you like a cup of tea?'


End file.
